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A heart attack is a medical emergency. If you have symptoms of a heart attack, call 911 or your local emergency number right away.
Chest pain is the most common symptom of a heart attack. You may feel the pain in only one part of your body, or it may move from your chest to your arms, shoulder, neck, teeth, jaw, belly area, or back.
The pain can be severe or mild. It can feel like:
The pain usually lasts longer than 20 minutes. Rest and a medicine called nitroglycerin may not completely relieve the pain of a heart attack. Symptoms may also go away and come back.
Other symptoms of a heart attack can include:
Some people (the elderly, people with diabetes, and women) may have little or
no chest pain. Or, they may have unusual symptoms (shortness of breath, fatigue,
and weakness). A "silent heart attack" is a heart attack with no symptoms.
Heart attackA heart attack occurs when blood flow to a part of your heart is blocked for a long enough time that part of the heart muscle is damaged or dies. The medical term for this is myocardial infarction. Alternative NamesMyocardial infarction; MI; Acute MI; ST-elevation myocardial infarction; Non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction Causes, incidence, and risk factorsMost heart attacks are caused by a blood clot that blocks one of the coronary arteries. The coronary arteries bring blood and oxygen to the heart. If the blood flow is blocked, the heart is starved of oxygen and heart cells die. A hard substance called plaque can build up in the walls of your coronary arteries. This plaque is made up of cholesterol and other cells. A heart attack may occur when:
The cause of heart attacks is not always known. Heart attacks may occur:
After sudden, severe emotional or physical stress, including an illness |
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